Seeing the Round Corners

September 18, 2017

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE AMERICAN INDIANS

Former President Abraham Lincoln has always been credited with the Emancipation Proclamation and freeing the slaves

Selective history has long been a problem in America. When it relates to the American Indians, perhaps a more accurate description is the accounts of history are dependent on which side is doing the recalling – the white man or the American Indians (a term this writer uses and believes is proper rather than Native Americans).

As the civil rights movement came to the forefront of modern America, it became abundantly clear, the Emancipation Proclamation meant the beginning of the end of discrimination against blacks, but it did not apply to the American Indians. Abraham Lincoln “continued the policy of all previous presidents of viewing Indians as wards of the government while at the same time negotiating with them as sovereigns,” a contradiction in reality, never mind possibilities.

In researching historical accounts of generation after generation, it becomes apparent to those with objective minds, what is taught as “all of history” to children in today’s schools is a one-sided account written by and from the white man’s view point.

How many readers have read about the statistics on how American Indians were treated during Lincoln’s presidency? The largest mass execution in United States history occurred during Lincoln’s presidency as a result of the Sioux War, also referred to as the Dakota Uprising (December 1862); 38 warriors were executed by the Army at a public hanging. More on that later.

The aggrandizing of Lincoln all these years was meant in part to protect the image of Lincoln and what better way than to support the idea that the Civil War was fought “to free an enslaved people.”

Today’s column is meant to provide “food for thought” for columns appearing over the next few weeks about former president Abraham Lincoln and the beginning-to-end of his views on American Indians and race.